Saturday, January 9, 2010

To help people get around.

It is not unusual that the bicycle is often times seen as a primitive way of transportation, now putting it as "we began with a bicycle - from there we JUST challenge ourselves to help people get around"I caught this video while watching Sportscenter last nite. I disturbed me because it's like my bicycle is not 'today's way of getting around' which is totally untrue in my world, and at the end of the commercial I ended up laughing from the non-sense it makes to me. I am not part of the demographic to even pay attention to commercials, but anytime I see a bicycle, Im glued like a zombie fly. I mean yeah cars are cool for long road trips, but seriously a vehicle does not help me get around in my habitat at all.

If you have a 500 mile trip to take with the family then the Sorento is probably a good choice. It would be great if my neighborhood had one of those you could sign out, or rent, for the once or twice a year family trip like that (or the rare trip to go buy 2x4s or cabinets or something like that). But when I cycle past the elementary school in the morning and see the line-up of Sorento-like vehicles dropping the kid off on what must be a an average trip of about a mile, on a crisp 50 degree Phoenix morning when the riding is just about perfect, I have to shake my head, and dream of a future day when more people would look at transport options (like a vintage Kia bike, which looks sweet) before rushing out the door and turning that SUV key reflexively.

I too came away from the commercial thinking "Kia made bikes? I'd love to see that" and not really paying attention to the car. Car commercials never got my attention except the VW ones that had skies, bikes and kayaks strapped to the top of them.

"If you have a 500 mile trip to take with the family then the Sorento is probably a good choice."

One of the problems with the car as transport system is that its really best for trips of about 25 to 100 miles. 200 if you've got two drivers to swap off every hour; and yet most people think of them as necessity because they take long trips.

Taking short trips in a car is the number one thing that will get you killed in one. Taking a LONG trip is the second.

Back in the day we used to have something ideally suited for taking the family on a 500 mile trip that wouldn't wipe you all out if someone got distracted by the view out the window or nodded off.

What about the Autozone commercial in which some poor kids burns a ridiculous amount of money and effort attempting the impossible: fixing a crappy old American car. Hooray, now he can drive without insurance, pay $2.50 in gas every 10 miles, and probably manage to kill himself and others in an accident. The American dream!

The last part where there's a road designed for high-speed use by automobiles with no shoulder and no sidewalk and the kid walking on the grass looking like he's moments away from his death is pretty telling of the "progress" made in the past 50 years.

kfg/ car companies and their sneaky ways of advertising, a bicycle will be back in full speed, it is just a matter of time. and yes, it would have been great if trains never really went so 'obsolete'

ade/ since riding buses more i get to observe the face and energy of people driving solo next to the bus. in comparison to the weeee faces on a bicycle, it's just something to see and absorb, that says it all.

john romeo alpha/ cities are catchin up to citi car share programs. im not against cars but I agree that a 3 mi car ride which is a high percentage of time, would be a lot better on a bicycle, that would be for starters. then people will realize how easy it is to incorporate on a daily basis.

somacisco/ yes that is a good point, the fact that bikes are in the tv sans crazy tour and lance, is a good thing. now we can always use the mute button.

george/ isnt ironic that the bike gets bashed on yet it outlives most cars. my bike is also from a few decades ago and still runnning like a champ.

mamavee/ that sounds like a project, in the lookout for old Kia bicycles :)

travis/ ohyes i remember that one, or the credit card commercial that becaues you have bad credit you ride a bike instead of a hot guzzler. anyone with half a break can do the math and know we are damn smart not to ruin our credit on a 'new' car... id save my credit score for more important things.

larry/ any commercial with kids, it's just a little odd, you know - unless is sponge bob for burger king or somthing, ti almost makes me suspicious...

othemts/ that is sadly true. let's hope that is work in progress and people with a voice and vision will come together and help that reverse to have cities be occupied and enjoyed by its people and community and not by big metal roaming boxes and cement dinosaurs called highways.

The Sorento can stay in its proud home in West Point, Georgia. Strange commerical. I too watched this commercial and was more interested in the kid's very cool bike. His journey was great on the country road under the canopy of trees and then he pulls up in front of a bohemith, sterile factory. Just where kids of every age want to hang out . . . sans romance. It just didn't "resonate".

I am a bike nut... I just love to ride my bike. However, like most of the population in this great nation of ours, using a bike as my primary means of transportation is impossible. KIA used to make bikes... they used to ride them, too. It's a commercial. If you don't like the commercial for what it is, a commercial, go ride your bike! That's what I am about to do!